Muskegon Team of the Week: Western Michigan Christian girls soccer

MUSKEGON, MI – David Hulings believes a prep athletic team’s culture can change in the span of six or seven years.

Hulings should know. He built the Fruitport girls soccer program for 20 years and just finished his ninth season coaching the Western Michigan Christian boys varsity soccer team.

If the culture of WMC’s girls soccer team began to change the second Hulings took over as head coach, it should be about halfway to where it’s going to be by the end of this spring, Huling’s third with the team.

“Our theme this year is to set a standard for what our program should be,” said Hulings, whose WMC girls soccer squad is being highlighted as the MLive Muskegon Chronicle Team of the Week. “We’re trying to say, ‘So what is the standard of our team, do we win? Or is it that we played really well, so what does that look like?’ We’re in the middle of trying to set that.

“The girls will be the ones to set the standard. The culture has to evolve from the players. I can’t just say, ‘This is what it is.' I can say, ‘I’d like to be in the state finals or win the state title,' but that’s a result of a standard. So if we set our standard and play to it, we’ll get good things. We’re developing what that standard is.”

Western Michigan Christian's Brea Frein (8), and Jessica Kinnucan (15), react after winning the scoring point by a mercy rule during a girls soccer game against Whitehall at Western Michigan Christian on Monday, April 14, 2014. Western Michigan Christian defeated Whitehall 8-0. (Madelyn Hastings | mhasting@mlive.com)

The Warriors want to set the standard high. The Bible verse they chose to accompany their theme is Matthew 5:48, which states “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Warriors know they’re never going to be perfect, but they are striving to get their game to where they give the same effort and execute consistently every time they take the field.

“The theme applies not only to soccer, but spiritually as well,” junior defender Alyssa Wright said. “We want to do our best in everything, on the field and in our lives. We’re trying to achieve perfection.”

From the outside, WMC looks like it has been pretty successful throughout its 25-year history and in the last two seasons under Hulings. The only thing that stopped WMC in the state semifinals and regional finals in the last two years, respectively, was a juggernaut of a Calvin Christian team.

Hulings gave a ton of credit to the previous coaching staff for the success they’ve had so far, and likes the direction his team is headed, but said the Warriors are not at their standard yet.

WMC has all the tools to be a pretty dominating team this spring, however.

The Warriors have explosive players on the front end in senior Mykayla Denison, junior Alexys Riksen, senior Alyssa Benedict and junior Jessica Kinnucan, speedy defenders in juniors Wright and Megan Teeter, an experienced and athletic keeper in junior Lindsey Johnson, and more depth than perhaps they've had at any point in the program's history.

The Warriors are still rather young with just four seniors, but they are pretty experienced for having so many juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen on the squad.

One of the keys to this team is its versatility.

“We can play anybody, anywhere, and no one cares where they play,” Hulings said. “A number of players played all over the field (in their 8-0 win over Whitehall Monday) and did a good job. I don’t have to worry that I have a player who can only play one position to be successful. They can play in multiple positions, they’re very good at it, and that’s very nice for our team.”

The versatility of the players allows the team to change its style mid-game, if need be.

The flexibility in style could come in handy down the road in the postseason, and it’s something Hulings & Co. value.

“What we’re trying to do is be multi-faceted,” Hulings said. “In a girls program, you can’t be satisfied with playing one style. In the boys program, you can have a possession game and be really good at it, but the guys will be able to adjust gears in the middle of everything and create their own flair on their own.

“With the girls program, you need to be more specific with what you’re trying to do. They tend to be more exact. They need to know exactly what you want from them, and they’ll do it.”

WMC showed it’s capable of attacking in different ways Monday in the blowout win.

The Warriors led 2-0 at the half, changed up what they were doing at halftime and exploded for six goals in the second half.

Hulings said he hopes his teams eventually have the capability of adapting on their own.

He believes they’ll get there if they change their overall commitment level to the sport.

“I think we’re changing the commitment to girls soccer a little bit here,” Hulings said. “It didn’t have as high a profile as I would like it to be. That’s one of my standards, to have a high profile like the boys team, to have something that we’re very proud of.

“We want to get further than last year, although I expect we’ll still have Calvin Christian to contend with. I don’t come into any season thinking anything less than making it to the state final, but at the same time we’re trying to let the standard be how well we play our game, and if that’s good enough on a given day, we’re great.”